Frank Costello
| aliases = Francis "Frank" Costello | film = The Departed | franchise = | image = | notability = | type = | race = | gender = | base of operations = Boston, Massachusetts | known relatives = | status = | born = 1937 Date approximated based upon the age of actor Jack Nicholson. | died = 2006 This database assumes that the events of the film take place in the same year in which it was released. | 1st appearance = | final appearance = | actor = Jack Nicholson }} Francis "Frank" Costello is a fictional crime boss featured in the 2006 crime drama film The Departed, directed by Martin Scorsese. He was played by actor Jack Nicholson. Overview Francis Costello was the leader of an Irish-American organized crime cartel that operated out of Boston, Massachusetts in the mid 2000s. During a sting operation at one of his meets, Costello learned that there was a traitor in his organization, who had been feeding information to the feds. Moreover, Costello himself was an FBI informant and had his own loyal agent, Colin Sullivan, working as a plant in the Boston Police Department. To help weed out the "rat", Costello had all of his men place personal information about themselves into an envelope, which he then delivered to Sullivan. The true identity of the rat, was William "Billy" Costigan, who had labored for many months to craft an identity that would make him appear as a loyal informant of Costello's group. When the real police came too close to undermining Costello's operations, he had a special task force captain named Oliver Queenan killed by having him thrown from the roof of a building. Queenan knew that Costello was an FBI informant, and he had him killed to keep himself safe. A short time later, Costello and his cronies embarked upon a major sale of microprocessors with a Chinese cartel. The police raided the site and everything erupted into gunfire. As Costello attempted to escape, his loyal informant, Colin Sullivan, cornered him. Sullivan drew his gun to keep up appearances, but when Costello confessed to being an informant for the Feds, Sullivan shot him dead. Biography Notes & Trivia * * Scorsese's version of Frank Costello is loosely based on an actual underworld figure named James Joseph "Whitey" Bulger, who was a mob boss, racketeer and FBI informant in South Boston during the 1970s. At the time of filming The Departed, Whitey Bulger was still at large and crested the top of the FBI's Most Wanted List. He was finally captured and brought to justice in 2011. * The fictional elements of Frank Costello are based on the character of Hon Sam from the 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs. See also * Crime boss * Billy Costigan * Colin Sullivan * Characters who are shot death External Links * * * * * The Departed at Wikipedia * * References ---- Category:Characters Category:Departed, The/Characters Category:1937/Character births Category:2006/Character deaths Category:Mobsters